Definition of "rattle"

(transitive, ergative) To create a rattling sound by shaking or striking.  quotations  examples

(transitive, figurative, informal) To scare, startle, unsettle, or unnerve.  quotations  examples

(intransitive) To make a rattling noise; to make noise by or from shaking.  examples

(transitive, obsolete) To assail, annoy, or stun with a rattling noise.  quotations

(transitive, obsolete) To scold; to rail at.  quotations

To drive or ride briskly, so as to make a clattering.  examples

To make a clatter with one's voice; to talk rapidly and idly; often with on or away.  examples

(UK, slang) To experience withdrawal from drugs.

Object that rattles.

1. Any of various plants of the genera Rhinanthus and Pedicularis, whose seeds produce a rattling noise in the wind.  examples

2. A baby’s toy designed to make sound when shaken, usually containing loose grains or pellets in a hollow container.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Pleas'd with a rattle, tickled with a straw.

     1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […]

3. (music) A musical instrument that makes a rattling sound.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • The rattles of Isis and the cymbals of Brasilea nearly enough resemble each other.

     1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], (please specify |book=1 to 5)

4. (zoology) The set of rings at the end of a rattlesnake's tail which produce a rattling sound.

Rattling sound.

1. (onomatopoeia) A rapid succession of percussive sounds, as made by loose objects shaking or vibrating against one another.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • The rattle of a drum.

     1902, Arthur M. Winfield, The Rover Boys in the Mountains, Chapter 4

2. (now rare) Noisy, rapid talk; babble.  quotations

   Quotations

   • All this adoe about the golden age is but an empty rattle and frivolous conceipt.

     1627, G[eorge] H[akewill], An Apologie of the Power and Prouidence of God in the Gouernment of the World. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Iohn Lichfield and William Turner, […]

3. (uncountable, now rare) Trivial chatter; gossip.  quotations

   Quotations

   • “And pray where, Lady Honoria,” cried Mrs. Delvile, “do you contrive to pick up all this rattle?”

     1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, III.v.5

4. A noisy, senseless talker; a jabberer.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • ‘Sir James is a young Man of an amiable disposition, and excellent character;—a little too much of the Rattle perhaps, but a year or two will rectify that […] .’

     c. 1794, Jane Austen, Lady Susan

   • It may seem strange that a man who wrote with so much perspicuity, vivacity, and grace, should have been, whenever he took a part in conversation, an empty, noisy, blundering rattle.

     1856 February, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Oliver Goldsmith ”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871

5. (obsolete) A scolding; a sharp rebuke.

6. A rough noise produced in the throat by air passing through obstructed airways; croup; a death rattle.  examples

(historical units of measure) Alternative form of rottol: a former Middle Eastern and North African unit of dry weight usually equal to 1–5 lb (0.5–2.5 kg).